2021 NHL Awards: McDavid wins Art Ross, Matthews gets Maurice Richard

With the North Division spillover finally finished, the 2020-21 NHL regular season concluded on Wednesday. With that, quite a few 2021 NHL Awards became official — even if you could see the winners coming a mile away.

With 105 points (in 56 games!), Connor McDavidwon the 2021 Art Ross Trophy. Auston Matthews locked up the 2021 Maurice Richard Trophy with 41 goals.

2021 NHL Awards: McDavid wins Art Ross

McDavid won the Art Ross Trophy by a mile, and he didn’t “settle” for 100 points during this abbreviated season. McDavid’s teammate Leon Draisaitl finished a distant second in the Art Ross race with 84 points, 21 behind the 105 for number 97.

The NHL shared some more information about McDavid’s incredible, Art-Ross-winning year, and his 105-point season. In collecting his third Art Ross Trophy, McDavid sits with all-time greats, including Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky:

He became the ninth player in NHL history to claim the award at least three times as well as the third to achieve the feat prior to his 25th birthday, following Wayne Gretzky (5x) and Gordie Howe (3x). McDavid’s 21-point gap over the runner-up was the largest by an NHL scoring champion since 1990-91, when Gretzky (41-122—163 in 78 GP w/ LAK) finished 32 points ahead of Brett Hull (86-45—131 in 78 GP w/ STL).

McDavid, who also topped the League in assists (72), power-play assists (28) and power-play points (37), factored on 57.38 percent of Edmonton’s 183 total goals (excluding the shootout) – the highest single-season percentage in NHL history, ahead of Mario Lemieux in 1988-89 (57.35% w/ PIT). He also posted a League-leading 1.88 points per game – the most by any player since 1995-96, when Lemieux averaged 2.30 (69-92—161 in 70 GP w/ PIT).

Auston Matthews officially wins the 2021 Maurice Richard Trophy

Auston Matthews generated an impressive margin for his Maurice Richard Trophy, too. He scored 41 goals to take it, eight more than second-place McDavid (33).

Matthews also scored 12 game-winning goals, which is pretty absurd in a shortened season. (Especially with some injury issues.)

Matthews, who also paced the League with 12 game-winning goals and 222 shots on goal, accounted for 22.0 percent of Toronto’s 186 total goals (excluding the shootout) – the highest single-season percentage by an NHL player since 2014-15 (Ovechkin: 22.4% w/ WSH) and the best single-season mark by a Maple Leafs player in the expansion era (since 1967-68). His 0.79 goals per game also was the best such average by any player since 2007-08 (Ovechkin: 0.79) as well as the highest single-season mark in franchise history (minimum: 50 GP).

This rounds out some of the bottom-line 2021 NHL Awards. Earlier, the league confirmed that the Colorado Avalanche won the 2021 Presidents’ Trophy, while Marc-Andre Fleury and Robin Lehner combined to win the 2021 William M. Jennings Trophy.

Going forward, there are the more “subjective” 2021 NHL Awards. As you can see from Our Line Starts, McDavid is the clear favorite to win the Hart Trophy. There’s also some interesting room for debate for the Norris, Selke, GM of the Year, Jack Adams, and so on.

(It will be surprising to see anyone other than Kirill Kaprizov win the Calder Trophy, though.)

You can watch Connor McDavid and the Oilers begin their playoff run vs. the Jets on Wednesday.

Jets-Oilers stream coverage begins at 9 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews will miss at least three weeks with a sprained knee.

The team announced the reigning MVP’s anticipated absence Friday, two days after Matthews was injured in Toronto’s victory against the New York Rangers.

Matthews is expected to miss at least six games and could be out for a few more. The timing of the injury coinciding with the NHL All-Star break and the Maple Leafs bye week prevents this from costing Matthews more time out of the lineup.

After being voted an All-Star by fans, Matthews is now out of the event scheduled for Feb. 3-4 in Sunrise, Florida. The league announced Aleskander Barkov from the host Florida Panthers will take Matthews’ place on the Atlantic Division All-Star roster.

Matthews, who won the Hart Trophy last season after leading the NHL with 60 goals, has 53 points in 47 games this season.

MONTREAL — Montreal Canadiens winger Cole Caufield said Friday he wouldn’t be having season-ending surgery on his right shoulder if the team were in playoff contention.

But with the Canadiens near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, the 22-year-old Caufield said he decided to have the surgery to protect his long-term health. The procedure is scheduled to be performed by Dr. Peter Millett on Wednesday.

“I didn’t want to stop playing,” Caufield said. “I had a couple tests done to look at it more clearly but, in the end, like it could’ve been one more fall and it could have been even worse.”

Caufield, who leads the Canadiens with 26 goals in 46 games, had three different medical opinions on his shoulder before concluding that his season was over.

“I think they’ve seen a lot more than I have and they know the differences and what they like or don’t like about it,” he said about the medical opinions. “Long term, I think this is what’s best but for sure it was tough to sit out that game against Toronto on Saturday night.”

Caufield initially felt the injury in an awkward fall during Montreal’s 4-2 loss at Dallas on Dec. 23. He said his right shoulder popped, and he replaced it himself.

Caufield felt it again in the Habs’ 4-3 loss at Nashville on Jan. 12. The club announced on Jan. 21 that Caufield would miss the rest of the season.

Caufield is nearing the end of his three-year, entry-level contract and will be a restricted free agent this summer.

SEATTLE — Seattle Kraken rookie All-Star Matty Beniers will miss the team’s final two games before the All-Star break after taking a big hit from Vancouver’s Tyler Myers earlier this week.

Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said after morning skate Friday that Beniers would not play Friday night against Calgary or Saturday against Columbus. Hakstol did not speculate on Beniers’ availability for next weekend’s All-Star Game in Florida.

The team has not specified what kind of injury Beniers sustained from the hit. He was barreled over by Myers away from the play early in the second period in Wednesday’s 6-1 victory over Vancouver. Myers was penalized for interference on the play. Beniers returned briefly for one shift later in the period but did not play in the third period.

Beniers is Seattle’s lone All-Star selection this season. He leads all rookies in goals (17) and points (36), and is fifth in total ice time for rookies.

Seattle also placed defenseman Justin Schultz on injured reserve and recalled forward Max McCormick from Coachella Valley of the AHL. Hakstol said Schultz is improving but there’s no timeline on his return.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Forward Andrei Kuzmenko signed a two-year contract extension with the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

The deal has an average annual value of $5.5 million.

The 26-year-old Kuzmenko has played in 47 games for the Canucks this season with 21 goals and 22 assists, four penalty minutes and a plus-4 defensive ranking.

Kuzmenko ranks second on the team in goals and power-play goals (nine) this season.

His 43 points are also tied for third on the team in overall scoring, while his 32 even-strength points (12 goals, 20 assists) are second on the Canucks.

Kuzmenko leads all Vancouver skaters in shooting rate (24.7%) and ranks third in the NHL in that category (minimum of 20 games).

He leads all first-year NHLers in almost every offensive category, including goals, assists, points, points per game (0.91), power-play goals, and power-play points.

He has also had 14 multi-point games so far this season (second most on the Canucks), highlighted by his first-career NHL hat trick and season-high four-point game against Anaheim on Nov. 3.

A native of Yakutsk, Russia, Kuzmenko spent his first eight professional seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) with CSKA Moscow and SKA St. Petersburg, getting 200 points (85-115-200) in 315 regular-season games. He set career highs in goals (20), assists (33), and points (53) last season, ranking second in the league in scoring.

Kuzmenko has also represented his country on the international stage on multiple occasions, totaling 16 points (10-6-16) and six penalty minutes in 37 games played. He was originally signed by Vancouver to a one-year, entry-level contract on July 13, 2022.